Shvo sheds light on second phase of Transamerica Center makeover

The owner of the Transamerica Center is moving ahead with a $400-million renovation of the storied complex within the Financial District.

The New York-based developer Shvo, which paid $650 million for the Transamerica Pyramid and two adjacent office buildings in 2020, has filed plans for a second-phase addition, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The firm proposes a $150-million upgrade to the 9-story office building at 545 Sansome St., which would double its size while adding a park and open space for outdoor restaurant seating.

Plans call for adding six stories to the building and pushing its footprint north to the property line on Washington Street – adding a total of 55,600 square feet. Of those, 50,000 square feet would go to office space, and 5,600 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants.

The project would raze a single-story retail building at 501-505 Washington St., which includes a Vietnamese restaurant that the developer will help relocate.

The building’s historic facade on Sansome Street would be retained, while the addition would incorporate compatible building materials with a “contemporary design and larger windows.”

Shvo has applied to add a 1,250-square-foot privately owned public park next to Transamerica Redwood Park, while adding another 1,800 square feet of open space to accommodate outdoor seating for new restaurant tenants.

Construction is expected to take 18 months.

The two-phase upgrade of the Transamerica Center would bring it “into the next century,” Michael Shvo, chairman and CEO, told the San Francisco Business Times.

The 853-foot Transamerica Pyramid, designed by architect William Pereira, has been a San Francisco icon since it was built in 1972. Its smaller siblings at 505 and 545 Sansome Street have been dubbed 2 and 3 Transamerica.

Last month, Shvo began the first phase of the center makeover – a $250 million renovation of the 523,000-square-foot Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery St., and the 191,000-square-foot office building at 501 Sansome St.

The Pyramid will get a top-floor tenant lounge, fitness and wellness spaces. The offices at 505 Sansome will get a new lobby, a new storefront and a restored entrance facing the redwood park. London’s Foster + Partners has designed the renovations.

Shvo says its $1 billion investment in the Transamerica Center has begun to pay off, with 150,000 square feet of new leases at rents of more than $100 per square foot annually.

[San Francisco Business Times] – Dana Bartholomew

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